It doesn’t take much to identify a work at home scam. Here are a few key words that will help you decide if that job is legitimate.
Nearly every scam running rampant today is a variation of one of the items listed below. Read them and arm yourself with knowledge to avoid losing any more money.
Payment (or Check) Processing
These types of “jobs” want you to accept checks, deposit them into your bank account and send a portion off overseas and keep a portion for yourself as payment. Problem here is the checks are either fake or stolen and will eventually bounce. You’ll have access to the funds before they bounce though, allowing you to send the money away.
Some time after you’ve sent the money overseas and after you’ve spent the money you were “paid” for processing the check, that check will bounce leaving your bank account thousands of dollars in the red. YOU will be held 100% responsible for that money and YOU will have to repay every cent back to your bank.
Data Entry
Let me preface this by saying, there are legitimate data entry jobs, but they are few and far between. They don’t pay well and it’s near impossible to land a real position. The data entry jobs I’m talking about are the ones that promise you thousands of dollars for filling in forms.
Anyone can fill in a form. It’s relatively simple and requires no skill; however data entry scammers are telling you that you can become a millionaire practically overnight just by typing a few words into a box. It’s no surprise that they’re lying. Instead of hiring you for a job, they’ll sell you “training materials” which teach you how to get started in pay-per-click marketing, which is nothing more than buying ads on Google Adwords. The training materials will cost you several hundred dollars and will tell you to invest upwards of thousands of dollars into Adwords to buy clicks. The system is terribly outdated and you will lose pretty much all of the money you invested.
Rebate Processing or Auction Listing
These two key words share similarities. Both are backed by scammers who insist that big name companies like Dell, Sony, and Apple want to pay you to list their products on auction websites or to process refunds for their customers; neither of which makes any sense.
Big name companies have full-time employees, online stores, and warehouses to handle these types of things. They aren’t hiring random people from the Internet to accept refunds and post auction listings online.
Package Reshipping
If I typed out a full description here, I’d just be repeating points I made above so I’ll just give you the jist of package reshipping. You accept packages purchased with stolen credit cards and identities and reship them to criminals overseas. You won’t get paid and this is highly illegal.
Western Union
Nearly ever scammer wants to use Western Union to either send money to you or receive money from you. A good rule of thumb is to NEVER accept a job that requires you to use Western Union or any other type of money transfer service for that matter. It’s near impossible to recover money you sent away via Western Union and it’s even harder to track the individual receiving the money.
Seeing as the Western Union name is becoming synonymous with scammers, you would think they would ask a few basic questions to people who are about to send money away. Think of how much money could be saved if the Western Union rep asked if this money is being sent due to a “check processing” job or if the person sending the money actually knew where it was going.
These are the most common phrases I’ve found listed in online scams. Do you know of any more? Leave a comment below and help me build this list!
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19 Responses
Excellent info guys – I can’t believe how many scams that are exactly as you describe
The scam I fell prey to was not anything similar to what is listed above.
I had sent my resume via careerbuilders.com, ( which unfortunately I no longer trust), it was for accounts receivable/ medical billing. Nowhere in the advertisment did it indicate “work from home”. It was supposed to be located in northern Georgia. I went through an on-line interview and everything seemed fine.
A week later I was notified that I had been “hired”, and that the position would be telecumuting. The company, Southern Cross Healthcare would be supplying a computer, this made sense since medical records are sensative and private. I would be sent a check and once the check cleared I was to go a purchase this computer.
Well… it was a fake cashiers check and being a skeptic I waited and the bank and I were notified it was counterfiet.
I notified all types of agencies and my local police.
I am just very happy I waited.
These people never asked me to send money, the interview really was geared toward medical billing. The only red flag I noticed as I got more emails and telephone call from these people was their interest in Medicais and Medicare.
After careful research I found that Soulthern Cross Healthcare is a real place, but.. in the United Kingdom not the United States.
Still I am looking for work and honestly I prefer telecumuting, but we will see.
How about the scams that offer unlimited Television and movies access for mere pennies a day? Also near free unlimited phone access.
All these I have ever checked into had a long list of people posting warnings that they had tried it and got nothing.
One way I’ve found of figuring out if a company is a scam or not is if they send me an e-mail saying they saw my resume and liked what they saw. I’ve seen my resume, you can drive a fleet of Mack Trucks through it.
I’ve gotten 2 different “check processing management” offers, but I declind them becaue while the company was legitimate, the job description changed when I emailed them back (from “pick up clients at airport and Western Unioning moey back to HQ” to “you’ll have absolutely NO contact with client – all work is done via home office, you get cheque, cash it and send 95% back to us.” )
Ive recently gotten the following e-mail in my box after posting a resume on craigslist. I talked with this “Mr. Crowley” via yahoo messenger and he sent me an ad to be posted on craigslist. Im supposed to post to all the states knowing the ads will be flagged. Im assuming this is a scam, but as usual, my curiousity got the best of me. (that and being laid off for over a year). Im noticing some of these scams contain the name, “William Crowley” but still curious, what could this person be scamming me out of? Or am I being used as a patsy to scam someone else? If anyone knows about this particular scam, Id love to hear more. The e mail I recieved was as follows…
This is a great opportunity for a job opening of a Craigslist Poster, you will be posting different 2 ads on 40 state daily. The pay is $500 bi-weekly and no investment or any upfront payment.You will be Posting Ads on Craigslist for us and if you are interested in this job kindly come online on your Yahoo Instant Messenger to chat with our rep for the next step and further instruction, but if you dont have one you can go ahead and download it then add us on (crowleywilliams@yahoo.com).{wcrowley89@hotmail.com}
Because I sell products internationally through my websites, I am targetted by scammers now and then. Since my products are actual physical products, they require shipping. So besides(1) requiring me to use Western Union, they also require me(2) to use their shipper, even though their shipper is usually 10 times more expensive than say FedEx or UPS. They, of course, are the shipper, which is why they won’t consider using anyone else.
Thirdly, they also want the goods shipped to my address instead of theirs with the promise that their shipper will come to me to pick it up.
The fourth requirement that gives them away is that they want to use the same credit card (which will be a stolen card) to pay for everything and they usually want it done quickly before the card’s real owner discovers the theft.
Fifthly, they will be in a foreign country beyond the reach of Canadian and American police forces.
Sixthly, the order is usually large which promises the seller a fairly large commission. Sometimes the order doesn’t make any sense, but the commission is a good one so some will process it anyhow for the commission that they will receive.
Seventhly, if pressed for details of why they couldn’t pay the shipper themselves through Western Union, they come up with some pretty lame replies which often are so stupid they are comical. So if you want a laugh press them for the details as to why they couldn’t pay the shipper themselves through Western Union.
Be assured that once you process the order and have it shipped to your home, it will never be picked up. Worst still, as of October 1st of this year, the merchant/seller not the credit card company, will be held responsible for the monies lost if they (the seller) don’t have a terminal that is able to process cards with the new chip techology and they failed to process the card to verify true owership.
Just a little heads up on another scam.
Can you tell me much about mystery shoppers? Obviously they are a scam but can you tell me why they are considered a scam? Thank you. Linda
Also I recieved a check in the mail and they told me to go to Western Union and put part of it there and then go to Walmart and spend some of it and then I can keep the rest. It was a check for about $3000.00 and that is a lot of money. I did nothing with the check and didn’t really know what todo about it. Thank you for your reply. Linda
Linda, that check you got for $3,000.00 is a BAD check. If you attempt to cash it by depositing it in your checking account, it’ll bounce and you’ll be liable for the amount. DO NOT cash it. Tear it up and throw it away, now!
Linda, go to this URL: http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2011/02/02/mystery-shopping-yes-its-real-and-yes-you-can-get-paid-to-shop/ read the comments that are posted there.
Not all mystery shopping is a scam.
i too was scammed by someone named kenneth travis (kenvisit21@yahoo.com). he said the ceo of secretshopper.com will be fedex’g two postal monet orders for 980 each. the money orders came from a dennis hunt in houston, texas. i did cash them and even my bank thought they were real. within two days they bounced and the bank took every cent i had, including my social security check. today i was able to track down the address on my fedex slip. it was a storage facility!!! i just hope no one else gets duped by this guy. all the red flags were there i just didnt pay attention and now i have to pay the price.
Regarding the Payment (or Check) Processing scam. What about if they say they will send only wire transfers…how does that scam work?
They will steal the money form someone else’s account and then transfer it to your. Been there and done that. Almost cost me $9.000. Was lucky and could send it back to the bank that it was stolen from. Stay away from them. Bad news.
Hello!
Am I lucky or what that I found this website out.
I too fell victim to being naive and applied for a “Office Service Supervisor” for SHARP ELECTRONIC
Little did I know that they do NOT hire overseas! However the people I emailed with said they would send me a cheque and I would buy a printer and computer and a “secured modem” . It sounded a little fishy but I kept going then I found out that I had to set up an account where they could send money in and through an email, I assume so it can’t be traced. They interviewed me online through YAHOO! Couple weeks later I tried to find the ad again and saw that it was taken down. I hope no one else falls victim to them! I luckily didnt give them any information or set up the email acccount.. Just want you all to know
Good luck
Does anyone know about John Simpson, who is promoting xtreme paydays software? I gather it is some kind of automated list-building program to send targeted traffic to buy whatever you’re promoting.
I almost fell for the Bertolucci Watch scam. The posting was on Craigslist for an Office Coordinator. Beware of any emails to and from nwmillerfield@gmail.com.
Is this scam?
Dear Representative,
Food Production Daily UK LTD (FPD UK) are leading experts in the production and supply of all kind of can foods world wide.. We need you as our company payment receiver(financial operator) from our customers that we have rendered products and services.
Its been a problem and extra cost for our client to make payment to us in England because of the currency difference. So some clients don’t get to make our payments to us.
We want you to be our payment receiver in Europe. They will make the payment to you in euro currency and You will get 10% of any payment you receive from our customers and send balance to us in England. You can keep any job you have at the moment, plus you can work from home. Payment processing will only take 3 to 5 hours of your time weekly without stress. You will make up to 1000euros weekly for extra income if you are honest with our funds.
If you are interested, please reply me back with this information request below
Full Name:
street Address
City:
State:
postal code:
country:
Phone Number / Cell Number:
Weekly Income:
Current Job:
Age:
Bill Jefferson
Food Production Daily
Company Registered No : 05280358
Registered Office : 11 Church Road, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, SKB 7JU
is this a scam?
Dear Prospective Personal Assistant
Thanks so much for your message and sorry for the late response, Your response to the Personal assistant Craiglist Job was received and I would want you to give this message the necessary attention, I am in need of a dedicated dependable Official Personal Assistant. This Per-time personal Assistant position is a very flexible Job, and you get paid weekly working from the comfort of your home within 2hrs to 3hrs per-day, as this position I am offering is not office based due to my frequent business travel, and If you can manage your time properly, it will offer you a benefit you will never find with a typical 9am – 5pm jobs, allowing you to take your time off for other personal matters, and also giving you the advantage to get an additional job at your convenience without stress. I have reviewed your application and would like to give you an immediate assignment trial as a pratical interview, so if you are interested kindly get back to me. As my Personal Assistant, working with me is basically about instructions and following them, your primary responsibilities among other things will include:* Creating orders/pick slips/invoices/credit memos. * Processing return authorizations for me as needed. * Running personal errands. * Scheduling programs, flights and keeping me up to date with them * Making regular Contacts and drop-offs on my behalf * Acting as an alternative telephone correspondence while I’m away on a business trip and when needed as I have a little difficulty with hearing that is why my computer works for me. Your basic salary will be $600 weekly
I’m confident you can take up the challenge to build a relatively sound working relationship between us. As the Aloha United Way Charities. regional coordinator, a purpose where the rights of every child are realized and protected to survival, growth and development is my priority, while elevating every child to a new, exciting heights that they have only dreamed of, by holding seminars and donations programs, that includes contacting other people for support and donations throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Asia. Presently, I do have quite a number of unattended chores which you can immediately assist me with, I hope we both can meet up the challenges, as work start soonest. I intend going on a business trip to take a workshop for a period of one month. While on the trip duties, I will need you to personally represent me while you work from home in running some errands this week/next week. I will have some funds sent to you upfront, to cover the cost of completing the errand, adequate information and procedure instructions will be sent accordingly. kindly reconfirm your personal/contact details now.
Full Name:
Address Line 1, (No PO.BOX please):
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Cell Phone nos:
Home Phone nos:
Personal Email:
Alternate Email:
Best time to call you for a conversation:
How Often do you check your email daily?
NOTE***:
I want to use this opportunity to inform you that the necessary credentials needed to legally authenticate this position will be provided accordingly. A detailed job offer employment letter will be sent to you after your personal/contact confirmation response, Below is my organization details and personal data for your review, please be reminded that you cannot share this information with a third party.
Business Name: Aloha United Way Charities
Dun and Bradstreet # 08-740-3499
Type of Entity: Non-profit organization
Federal Tax ID #:13-2633564
Registration ID: 453033
Thanks in anticipation of your prompt response
Andy Grubbs
I just got caught up in one that they sent me a check for 3700 dollars and i went through in cashing and sending it off. That was last wednesday and was wondering how long it takes for me to get notice if i was scammed.
The Nigerian scammers are the worst scum on earth! the lies, the cajoling to get your pesonal details is unbelievable, thank God I use my brain. I will never give my personal details to these Charlatons who use it for Bank Fraud, Stolen identity, and money to be sent through Western Union and FedEX, this is big business in Nigeria. Let me tell you something funny about Nigerians when my Brother In Law who is a Civil Engineer was in Nigeria on contract. He was in his car when he was stopped by a bunch of Nigerians who took all his money all his clothes and left him standing on the streets in his underwear. Thank God they did not kill him! Do you think I would trust them when they say I have been compensated for being scammed to the vast compensation of 2.4 million dollars? Look at the funny side as well and have a laugh. Africian countries are the poorest on earth so they will do anything for money.